One on one with the LAPD rookie cop hero

LOS ANGELES, CA (FOX 11) - It was one of the biggest mysteries of 2017. While many people were celebrating at the end of a holiday week, an LAPD Officer was shot in the Westlake District, near downtown Los Angeles.

The circumstances of the shooting were still unknown as the story unfolded live on the FOX 11 10 p.m. News, last Friday.

The circumstances turned more alarming the next day. LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said the female officer had been shot " ambush-style." Those words quickly spread around the world on social media.

We don't know much more. One suspect is in custody. We do know the shooter fired from 500 feet away. Were the officer and her partner ( who was unharmed) targeted? No one is saying.

But we do know more about the officer who was shot. On Thursday I visited rookie officer Joy Park, in her hospital room. She's 35 years old, but she just graduated from the police academy last April. Her father was a cop back in Korea. She switched careers so she could follow in her father's footsteps, leaving behind a whole other career. Officer Park told me that in her family, serving the public is the highest honor.

Imagine coming to this country as an immigrant, learning the language, learning the culture of Los Angeles, California and the US? And then she learned the culture of the LAPD.

That was one of the many remarkable things I learned about Officer Park today.

She's thankful she was only hit in the thigh. She's in for some rigorous physical therapy. But her doctor told me she may be back to work in as little as four months. Officer Park said she can't wait to return to work & told me she has no jitters about walking the beat in the Rampart Division again.

Click on the video above and you'll be able to absorb Officer Park's strength and resolve yourself.